What Happens When: We are "Ambitious for Christ"
Suisadaayyyyy
Guess what? Christmas is the best day of the whole year. And by Christmas I mean General Conference, because in missionary lingo it's like the same thing right? besides, Christmas doesn't really exist here anyway!
I LOVED all the talks, and some of my favorites were Elder Yamashita, Pres Neilson, and Pres Uchtdorf. I loved the talk that said we need to be motivated, focused, and serving faithfully without complaint in order to be "ambitious for Christ" and seek true Joy. The story about the elder who never complained while riding a bike with a prosthetic leg was probably a slap in the face for all us missionaries in biking missions. I'm pretty sure I've complained an unreasonable amount because of my everyday biking issues but since I heard that talk, I've decided I will never actually have anything to complain about again. EVER!
Besides bawling like a baby during that talk, I really felt the spirit and an assurance that I am here in Cambodia for many many reasons that I haven't even realized yet. I have moments in my mission where I can say "and that is why I got sent to Cambodia..." but the truth is that it's still unfolding to me and I don't think I will know completely until the day we have all the mysteries of God opened to us. Sometimes we don't know why we're called to do certain tasks, but I testify it's always to teach us and those around us a good lesson about our Heavenly Father's love for us.
I loved learning about being truly happy and finding pure joy. It all comes to serving Jesus Christ and choosing to be happy and move forward despite difficulty. That is one of the biggest lessons I've learned as a missionary! There is such a difference between choice and acceptance. When we endure faithfully, we are promised true joy!
This week I gave a super simple spiritual thought in what I thought was a little bit of a rocky english class... but as soon as we transitioned from english to spiritual thought, there was a nice peaceful spirit that led the conversation. We talked a bit about prayer because I noticed there were a few new people that probably hadn't learned about prayer before and then when class was over, BOOM referrals for everyone! It was actually a really rewarding moment to see that the spirit actually did have an impact on the people in our class and pushed them to talk to us and get an appointment to learn more with us. A few referrals came to general conference, so things are looking good!
We were in a trio for a few days while we waited for the group of new misisonaries to fly in from america. Sister Nguyen came with us for a few days and man, it was so cool! Sister N serves vietnamese speaking now, but she learned khmer too so we just proselyted all over the city and I actually was quite humbled from this because I was reminded how hard it is to sit in a lesson where you actually don't understand anything and when they actually try to talk to you, you have no idea what's going on... My trainee comp Sister Snooks is quite the trooper! She's so great.
We have little miracles happening all the time as little gifts for our faith. This morning we walked out at 5:50 to go to the psaa and buy groceries but it had been raining for like 30 hours and there was the biggest flood starting out side... despite the rain, Sister N and I decided to exchange and still go because if we don't get food then, we don't get food at all! We walked out and braved the storm just to find that the neighborhood gate was still locked... and because of the storm there was no-one in sight! We didn't know what to do and we were already soaked so silently praying, we decided to check the other neighbor's houses again for any sign of movement... none. There is only one person in the whole gated block that actually has the key and their house was completely dark. We sat in the pouring rain for like 3 more minutes contemplating going back inside and then out of no where this lady walks out looking at us like we're crazy. I asked for the key, and marvelously she just happened to be the ONLY ONE who holds the neighborhood gate keys! MIRACLE then she handed it to us went back inside and we never saw her again. Wow that was a blessing and even though the psaa was basically a river of raw meat, We still were able to get food for our new companions and all is well!
Funny things like that happen, especially for God's servants. It's not necessary to be a missionary to see miracles though, so go on, look around, and give thanks for all the miracles in your life. I loved when President Uchtdorf gave the said that we overlook eternal blessings as ordinary pebbles when actually, they are as astonishing as diamonds!
Have a great week everyone, I love to hear from all of you!
Love,
Sister Haddock
My planner got WRECKED in the flood darn it... that thing is more important that the phone! (which also got water damaged inside the water proof bag and we had to get a new one... whoops)
I hope you can see this is a bishop cleaning his moto with the emergency fire hose in the foyer of the church... hahahaha
That is pork skin shaved up and to be into a sandwich bun.
Beautiful baby face I found coming out of the sketchiest alley in p.p.